Police Seek Killer of Woman Who Was Married to Two Men at Once
Before she was killed by a gunman who allegedly chased her down, 44-year-old Bettie Jenifer led a life of fascinating outward appearances.
In October, she married Chris Attoh, a Ghanian actor well-known in Africa. On May 10, according to the entertainment website Ghana Page, Attoh was filming in Los Angeles when police in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Greenbelt, Maryland, say a man with a handgun approached Jenifer around 5:10 p.m. as she walked to her car in the parking lot of an office building. The man fired “multiple shots” at Jenifer as she tried to run away with the shooter in pursuit. The suspect then took off in a blue vehicle.
Jenifer was leaving the building that is home to a temporary hiring agency franchise she owns, Express Employment Professionals, when she was killed, according to local reports. At least one bullet struck her head and she was pronounced dead at the scene, a police spokesman, George Mathews, tells PEOPLE.
At the time she married Attoh, police confirmed Jenifer also was married to Kedrick Jenifer, an importer of cocaine into the Baltimore area now serving 20 years in a federal prison after a 2016 conviction for drug trafficking, according to The Baltimore Sun. Along with the prison sentence, he was required to forfeit a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari and five other vehicles, one boat, four homes, multiple guns and an Italian ice stand allegedly used to launder cash, according to the newspaper.
In a news release at the time of the sentence, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein called Kedrick Jenifer “a major Baltimore drug dealer.”
Kedrick Jenifer filed for divorce from Bettie on April 9, six days before Bettie herself cross-filed, reports WUSA.
Whatever the state of that union, in the hours before Bettie was shot dead, Attoh cryptically tweeted, “When it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is never an option but a priority. Loyalty is ever …,” according to WJLA.
“The investigators are taking that into account,” the police spokesman tells PEOPLE. “They have been in the process of investigating all of the social media posts.”
He adds: “Mr. Attoh has been cooperating with our investigators.”
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“We do not believe this was a random incident,” says Mathews. According to the statements of those who saw the shooting, he says the gunman “appeared to be going after that victim and chased that victim down.”
“This was in front of multiple witnesses in broad daylight, so it was a pretty shocking scene to say the least,” he says.
On Friday, police released a composite sketch drawn from witness accounts of a suspect they identified as a black male with a thin build and black hair who at the time of the shooting wore a dark shirt and dark pants.
A statement from a spokesman for Attoh read, “Waka Talent Agency is saddened by the death of Bettie Jenifer, who was married to our client, Mr. Chris Attoh. We would like to note that the family has requested to mourn in private and therefore will not be doing any press interviews or commenting on the death,” reports NBC Washington.
The investigation is ongoing, and persons with any information are asked to contact Greenbelt police at 240-542-2134.
